Five Frugal Things — Money Making Edition

I was already in the neighborhood, so I popped into the children’s consignment shop to see if any of my stuff had sold. They were able to cut me a check for $14.28, which I immediately deposited into my sons’ college fund. Keep in mind everything that I’d dropped off was from various free piles, so yes . . . free money!

I’m meeting up with a Craigslist buyer this afternoon to sell her a rolling ArtBin that I picked up at the Medford, Oregon Goodwill after dropping my son off at college last month. I’ll make a $30 profit, which yes, you guessed it . . . goes towards the college fund. I like that I was able to hustle for a few extra dollars while dropping my son off at school!

My husband’s schedule is being switched around to accommodate training for a promotion that he received. This opened up a few extra days when neither he nor I were working. (We try not to work on the same days.) I posted in a work-specific RN Facebook group that I was willing to pick up a shift and immediately got a taker. I now have an extra day scheduled during a week that was light a shift.

I swept my hand under the coin counting machine at the credit union and was rewarded with a quarter, a dime and a penny. I also picked up two pennies at Fred Meyer yesterday. Hello . . . 38¢!

My younger son’s soccer season is over, which means his weekends are now free to work more hours in his job at the art supply store. He pays for all his own wants and has become a very inexpensive kid to parent.

Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

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Our shifts are extremely long, as twelve hour shifts often mean 14 hour shifts, (plus commute) and we prefer to not have our kids alone. It’s just nicer for one of us to be available for taxi service, meal prep, etc. We’ll be empty nesters next year, so we’re soaking up all the kid time that we can for now. We started this from the very beginning in order to avoid day care.

I totally get this Katy. Even though I’m a single parent so I’m not coordinating with a co-parent, I try to schedule my work around my kids’ school/work schedules. They are in high school and college now, so they don’t technically “need” me to supervise them, but I want to soak up the time and be around for them.

1. I used my fuel points and their already low prices to fill my Prius at Fred Meyer for less than $2 a gallon. I have been hypermiling like a crazy person since I learned about it from Katy (thanks again!) and I swear a tank of gas lasts me for weeks.
2. My daughter got a $20 parking ticket at Portland Community College recently. She had bought a 2-hour parking pass, but her class ran overtime. She’s only 17 and was upset about it, being a newer driver and responsible person (she’s in high school but taking one course at community college). I sent in a check to PCC, along with an explanation of the circumstances, and yesterday I received my check in the mail, returned with a note that they are reversing the ticket. It doesn’t hurt to speak up! Twenty dollars saved!
3. I got paid for a case that sort of fell into my lap last month, and since it was extra work that I wasn’t counting on, I’m putting that check into savings and pretending like it never happened. (I’m self-employed.) In the past I might have considered it “free money” to spend on wants, but now my “want” is to build up my savings.
4. Lots of my usual frugal things: morning coffee at home, cooking at home 95% of the time, bringing leftovers to the office for lunches.
5. I continue to lose weight slowly but surely (medically supervised, I needed to) and my clothing strategy has been to buy enough things at Goodwill that fit me at my current size, then donate them back when I get smaller, and buy new-to-me Goodwill clothes in smaller sizes. This has been very economical, and also fun to have “new” clothes that fit as I progress towards a healthy weight. I find it demoralizing to wear baggy, ill-fitting clothes even if they are baggy because I am getting healthier. It is time for me to donate another bag of clothes and see what I can find that fits me now! Btw I am not buying whole wardrobes in different sizes. Typically I look for a pair of jeans, a pair of black trousers, and a few blouses, and can find all this for under $30. The other day I was killing time and wandered into a clothing store and a cute sweater was $79. ?!?!?! Alternate universe!

(1) Good trashpicking day yesterday: Found a nice older Pyrex divided serving dish with lid in a recycling bin (no kidding), and two Tonka toy trucks (a backhoe and a cement truck) in a clean, unlidded garbage can. I was on foot, so I took the Pyrex with me and sent DH back for the Tonkas (he’s a fan and was thrilled).

(2) As I was looking for a place to store the Pyrex, I decided to have a general review of the kitchen equipment. (As Clarissa Dickson Wright once said on the Two Fat Ladies BBC show, “I’ve got a kitchenalia fetish, you know.”) Am removing several things I’ve either never used or not used in ages. Will donate and take tax credits.

(3) Was delighted to give my name as a reference for my next-door neighbor, who is adopting a shelter puppy after a period of dog bereavement (and a run of absolutely rotten luck generally). Smile on neighbor’s face = priceless.

(4) Hanging laundry as usual.

(5) Now kicking back with DH, enjoying the last day of an unusual and delightful spell of Native American Summer weather. Also priceless.

1. Am having a “stay at home and be totally frugal” day.
2. Because today is involving doing a lot of laundry, the drying rack is getting a work out with the lighter things. Since it’s the soggy season here, the dryer is also getting a work out.
3. Got said dryer repaired last night for $65 thanks to having a great home warranty.
4. Made a shelf for the broom closet out of a piece of scrap plywood.
5. Although it’s been a gray, gloomy day, we’re getting enough light by having the curtains open and haven’t turned on the overhead lights.

Stayed home today, needed a “mental health” break from work. Sometimes investing in our health instead of our wealth (for a day) might not be frugal but it’s worth it in the end.
* Went to the thrift store to possibly find a couple more t-shirt. Ended up buying 3 super cute Christmas decorations for 1$ each instead. Then went back home and chilled for the rest of the day.
* Received a daycare request to know if we are sending our daughter in for the next pd-day, for 17$. Answer : no. Hubby will work from home on that day.
* Groceries planned accordingly to weekly specials
* Won another pair of movie tickets. Inviting a friend to come along.
* Daughter needs a pair of shoes. Will go with her to thrift store first.

1. I bought myself a whole box of black tea bags for less than the cost of a Peppermint Mocha. I’m sad about it but I had plans to go to get coffee with a friend after work tomorrow so I decided to post-pone my first peppermint mocha by about 36 hours. The struggle is real. But my tea gave me a sufficient caffeine boost anyway.
2. I did NOT give Safeway $7 for their program to feed the hungry. I DID donate $10 to our local food bank who can then use that money to buy $50 worth of food.
3. Last night I finished my mom’s Christmas gift crocheted entirely out of yarn I already own. I will wrap it in a piece of fabric or newspaper because I’ve made the commitment not to buy any new Christmas decorations, cards, wrapping, etc this year.
4. Spent my lunch break finishing up a square for ANOTHER Christmas gift I’m working on (an afghan) which will use up some of the yarn in my stash. After discussing it with the NCA FB group, I will end up buying a bit of yarn that will match. It will drive me NUTS if I have two different whites 🙁 When I was done with the square, I read two chapters of my library book and ate some pumpkin ice cream leftover from the last work potluck.
5. It’s been over 2 months since I bought any alcohol! Trying to save my pennies. But I’ve budgeted for a bit of beer when I get paid tomorrow. 🙂

Yay for #2. It drive me crazy when grocery stores sell you packages for the food bank, from which they make a good profit. Out Giant store had a push the other day, they were charging $10 for 9 poor quality items (Like gravy mix and canned vegetables). Ten dollars donated to a food bank will go so much further (if you read the fine print when a company says they will donate thousands of meals if… it usually says they will donate $.09 for each meal).

1. Sold a decorative ceramic dish on our local FB board yesterday for $7.
2. Used $45 of cashback rewards on my Discover card to get a $50 Lowe’s gift card and bought a corded power drill. We have a cordless with a dead battery.
3. Found some change on the ground …. in our bedroom near the closet.
4. My prescription is covered by insurance at Meijer, but they still allow the use of the $20 coupon towards the next order.
5. Target has 25% and free shipping off any toy. I ordered some craft/art supplies for kid gifts.

1. My boss gave me a dozen eggs that her egg supplier gave her – from the chickens she has in her yard.
2. A good friend gave me several pounds of apples from her mom’s trees – I passed on 1/2 to my sister.
3. For our anniversary we went to the meat market rather than out for dinner – we weren’t watching as the order was filled and ended up with more than what we ordered (but not so much that I questioned the total amount) so we have some delicious leftovers for lunch.
4. Picked up a large tissue paper floral decoration from our freecycle group – our daughter is getting married soon and I want to think about incorporating into the decorations.
5. Wanted to run into the consignment store to check on status of the items there but decided to wait until I take another peek in my closet for anything that could go.

I am making Mexican Lasagna with ingredients I had on hand. The tortilla shells were in the freezer along with the black beans (made from scratch and frozen in packages), Mexican Four Cheeses and black olives left over from another day. I used left-over Picante sauce in the refrigerator and a new jar of spaghetti sauce from the pantry. I added green peppers we had grown in our garden. I also added chili powder which is a staple. The funny thing is when I cook out of the freezer and pantry, it seems to create more meals!! Tonight
we will eat half of our lasagna and I will wrap half of it to freeze as there is only two of us. I rinsed out the jars and added the last drops to my vegetable soup mixture in the freezer so next week I plan to make vegetable soup (and serve with homemade corn bread that is in the freezer). I will use the last 3 tortilla shells and the last of the Mexican cheese for tacos next week. I hope to keep going and dodge the grocery store again this month.

I went to a FREE breakfast at a new tutoring business and I was the only one who showed up (how weird, huh?) so they gave me ALL the door prizes (2 $100 gift certificates and 2 books on helping kids learn how to use their brains)

This afternoon I took the kids to our “Discover Local” event (a FREE event with local vendors, etc) and because there was low turnout (tornado watches all around our city) my kids were making out like bandits with school supplies, free food coupons, and take home food too – and to top it off, I won a $10 gift card to our favorite fast food restaurant (Chickfila)

yes! 2 books on helping your child unlock their learning potential and 2 gift certificates for free brain skill assessments ($100 value each!)
I’ll give all these to my kids’ school to use as door prizes, but it’s still exciting that I got them 🙂

1. Actually remembered to bring two of the hard-boiled eggs (from our hens) with me to work for mid-AM breakfast (aka, breakfast part 2).

2. Free FitnessBlender workout video on YouTube for exercise. I feel like free activities that are healthy earn a double score! 🙂

3. Worked on a city wage refund tax form for days when I worked outside of my city. It’s a little bit of an effort to review last year’s calendar, but it should yield a few bucks back. Need to finish this tomorrow to turn in to my employer.

4. Took homemade applesauce out of freezer to go w/ school lunches tomorrow morning.

5. Giving the family doses of homemade elderberry/rose hip/raw honey syrup tonight to keep immunity boosted. Also, made sure to take advantage of the hand sanitizer at work after getting off the train. Hand hygiene for the win!

1. Made my own hot mocha and took it to work, along with my lunch.
2. House is set at a chilly 60 degrees, but I am cozy under my heated throw blanket.
3. Went to Goodwill to search for eBay items (son and daughter have done very well at resale), didn’t find anything. Wondering if anyone besides me finds the pricing at Goodwill (and even some other thrift stores) too high? It seems like when “thrifting” got popular, Goodwill poured $$ into new and nicer locations and prices went up accordingly. Sometimes I find new Target items (they donate non-sellable items) for more than what they were on sale for at Target! And the used items are way overpriced! I guess my #3 was I didn’t buy anything…
4. Continue to put my poinsettia in the closet to help those leaves turn red. Its so healthy and would be nice not to buy one this year.
5. Picked all my tomatoes before it froze last night. I hope they will still ripen.

1. Scored 4 really nice baskets- 1 round and 3 rectangular, from a pile left at the curb from someone moving out. I noticed it on my way to work so stopped by on after work. Sofa, tv, shelves, etc. Sadly when I drove by on my way to work today , everything was in the back of a dump truck and headed to the landfill. Will sell these to help fund 2 son’s in college.
2. I was a speaker at my church’s MOPS group. Free breakfast and they gave me a Starbucks gift card as a gift.
3. Went to a meeting last night and was sent home with 1/2 of a gallon of Chic-fil-a ice tea that was left over.
4. I’ve sold 7 items in the past week on Amazon. I bought multiples of a sewing notion for 99 cents that I knew I could make $5 each after all fees. DH was dubious but since I’ve already sold 4 in the past week he’s a believer. More money for the college fund.
5. After going out to dinner with DH’s aunt and uncle and being treated, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up sugar that’s on special this week for $1.77/bag. Bought 2, used 50 cent coupons that doubled so $1.54 for 8 lbs. Plus we have leftovers from dinner for lunch!

Found hummus for 80 cents at aldi..so picked up six to take for lunches for carrots that needed companionship.

Made photos from my almost new printer and surprised my best buds with them. The printer was $10 and the refurbished ink cartriges were $15. The woman who sold the printer said that her dad couldnt figure out how to set it up and just gave up after awhile. I figured it was worth the gamble.

My work laptop died and boss wont pay to fix (only to buy new) for a few reasons I didnt want boss to buy a new one. I purchased a usb on the go cord for $5.50 from radio shack which allows me to type out stories on a keyboard (which I already had) while connected to my android phone. It may look a little funky but Im ok with it.

Got the idea today to start turning cardboard boxes inside out to save and use for lightweight items I sell in my etsy shop. Will be good to have more options in sizes.

Was able to buy nice ( and long overdue )
new underwear for cheap with jc penney $10 off $10 purchase and $10 off $25 purchase.

1. It was errand day today but I grouped my errands in a circle for the least amt. of gas used.
2. Took out two books from my small town library.
3. Called the dreaded Walmart to find out how much they charged for my non insurance covered prescription. Walgreens wanted $600 but with my coupon it would be $273. Walmart was $79. I’ll have to check out how much insulin and this med would be at Costco.
4. Hubby and I got home at different times so we scrounged for our dinners.
5. Got hubby a new contact lens case – healthy eyes and a new bathmat for inside the tub – less chance of slipping and falling. The bath mat that I had before was always sliding around and not sticking. A case of sometimes more expensive is worth it.

1. Went to a study/survey by my credit union. They offered a $25 gift card for about half an hour of my time. AND!!! They offered me a job for whenever I was ready, based on my knowledge on personal finance, just by my answers. The recruiter loved that I’ve been reading personal finance books for fun since high school, am a certified accounting clerk, and that I’m leaning towards an accounting degree. He gave me a card and I’ll definitely be calling him when my current contract is up.
2. Found out at the survey that I can deposit checks electronically through their app. I did that and saved gas by not going in person. I also found out I can earn Amazon gift cards. Will definitely look into that for when I buy my pressure socks.
3. Will go to the grocery store and pick up last week’s freebies: a 10 oz. Oreo package and some Keurig 3-pack cups. I found a refurbished Keurig in teh garage a few weeks ago (my dad probably got it as part of something he bought at an auction). Hopefully my sister likes it.
4. Brought three boxes of strawberry syrup from work. We don’t carry the product that used it, so I saved it from the trash. Gave a box to my best friend for his mom.
5. Will ask if they need me to go into work Saturday morning. Most of those hours should make me reach 40 hours maybe even past that. 😀

1. Enjoyed baked goods at workk,, made by a coworker from her free apples.
2. Bought a Papa John gift card at Kroger a few wks ago when GCs qualified for 4X fuel points, knowing that there would come a night I needed a quick meal. Used it last night to buy 3 medium pizzas, the card covered food, delivery charge and tip!
3. Continue to enter every drawing, sweepstake, and contest I can find. I’ve won some great stuff in the past, and all it takes is a few minutes of my time.
4. Started buying non-perishable baking and cooking supplies for the holidays as they go on sale.
5. Took my older son (broke and in desperate need of clothes to attend a memorial service and job interviews) to the two thrift shops in town, bought him three pairs of pants, three dress shirts, and a polo shirt for under $25. I paid more for the pack of socks and briefs!!

1. Holding on grimly to keeping the A/C turned off, even though the house is at 85 degrees and SO humid every night as I go to bed. Cooler weather is promised this weekend, and I’m very ready for it. It reached 89 this past Wednesday. Got all the windows open and the ceiling fans running.
2. Almost caved and bought groceries last night to make supper- I’d thawed nothing out and had no ideas and was tired of cooking in the heat. Instead, I made myself go home and found half a head of cabbage, some potatoes, and some salt pork my husband had bought, and made a quick supper out of that.
3. Feeding my late season hummingbirds with my homemade solution. I had been buying the “nectar” until I realized a few years ago that it was only sugar and water. What a dummy I’d been! The internet has lots of places to find the right proportions to make it.
4. Searched online until I found copyright-free pictures to print out to send to our sponsored child in Peru. He’s very interested in my state and loves to find out about it. I sent the most interesting native animal pictures I could think of to entice a 10 year old boy; panthers, alligators, bears, etc., and hand-wrote some information about each animal on them. Much cheaper than buying a book and having to tear out the pages to send (books aren’t allowed to be shipped).
5. Mailing out some information and some letters, and using the self-inking return address stamp my daughter gave me as a gift years ago. It’s cheaper than address labels, easier than hand-writing, and I don’t have to worry about fitting odd-sized envelopes in my printer. I haven’t had to refill it yet, either.

1. Found an acorn tree near one of my jobs and foraged them. Leached them on the stove and they are delicious.

2. Not frugal, but environmental: my new foundation came with an applicator sponge that had a small, weird hole burned into it by what looks like an acid. It also smells funny right there. I thought about returning the entire thing, but I can just cut off the offending part on the sponge.

3. Returned to the secret fig spot near my house and picked some figs for free. Also picked a nopal from the same area.

4. Every time I have been tempted to splurge on an afternoon coffee or snack, I make myself wait until I get home, then brew some tea and eat something from the fridge. It also feels good to save food from being wasted.

5. Found a perfectly good lightweight CD rack sitting by the side of the road. Will try to sell it on Craigslist.

1. Let my kids eat cereal and milk for breakfast which I rarely serve so they scarfed it down. Both were loss leaders so super cheap. I realize that no matter how how frugal the meal, if its not something they will eat it is still wasteful.
2.We went to Disney on Ice for my 7 year old daughters birthday present. Kinda pissed that I found out later I could have donated 10 cans of food to food for families food drive and got free tickets by helping others but the mesmerized look on my kids faces while watching the show was payment enough.
3. I did sneak in old Halloween candy and grilled chicken sandwiches on leftover hot dog buns to munch on. Had “the” conversation with the kids about us going to see a great show, not buy more toys, without totally being a downer. However, my mom got them a $12, yes that’s $12, bag of popcorn in a cheaply made super cute bag!**frown
4.Got several gently dented cans, cheap organic reduced boneless chicken thighs, and more reduced cereal at Kroger this morning. I don’t use many canned veggies but they are nice to have in a pinch. Some were that jelly cranberry sauce my hubby loves. I make wonderful homemade cranberry sauce for the rest of us.
5. Not washing my hair as often, looks better, saves on poo. Tried the no poo version of hair washing in the past, it’s just not for me.

Continue to be inspired by Katy and her loyal readers!
–postponed a trip to grocery store and eating from pantry/freezer.
–enjoyed a frosted chocolate cake from family for my Birthday recently.
–delicious steak dinner out last night for awards banquet honoring a family member. Didn’t need to buy a thing for me to wear, even had panty hose in my dresser! Husband needed new suit and shoes, all purchased on sale, with credit card that awards appoints. He got lots of compliments, so did I!
–left-overs for dinner tonight.
–planning a walk in the woods tomorrow, just the two of us, no phone service, may pack picnic lunch in reusable containers.
–attending a baby shower soon, gift is made from fabric I already had!
No room for a Lear Jet, but the Porsche is in the garage.

1. When I go to the supermarket, I always walk the aisles to check for coupons and good prices on things I stock up on. (It seems that the back of my head is a capacious place, it can remember a huge number of prices and a large list of things to stock up on.) Today I found whole wheat panko on sale, peaches canned-in-juice for half off, half priced Halloween peeps, and my house cleaner’s [1] preferred surface cleaner almost half off. The canned peaches will replace the canned-in-syrup that I accidentally bought last time they were on sale, and the syrup peaches will be donated.

2. At the second shopping trip today (first one was during lunch so I couldn’t buy perishables), I got to the store very late because traffic I was 2 hours late getting home. The meat counter manager discounted the roast chickens to $4 because she’d rather sell them than throw them away – a lady after our own hearts! I got two, and of course chose the $8 size chicken over the $6.50 size chicken. Lunch for guests tomorrow, chicken stock, and shredded chicken for several weeks of meals, for less than I could buy the raw chicken.

3. Despite being tired, and grumpy during that shopping trip, I did not buy anything extra. Not even a Lear jet.

[1] This is a serious indulgence, of course. But I hate, loathe, and detest cleaning – although I’m great at keeping tidy – so it’s where my disposable income goes. I think I spent my first disposable $50 on getting my apartment cleaned. ;-}

1. Cancelled my rarely used private health insurance extras cover saving $31 per month.
2. Did the annual ring around to service suppliers and managed to reduce contents insurance by $238 and received a free $100 supermarket gift card.
3. Continue eating lunches and one dinner per week at work.
4. Pick up an extra 2 hours at work.
5. Have been continuing to make meals with what’s on hand until shopping day. Defrosted pork mince, homemade tomato soup out of the freezer and added a can of tomatoes, an onion and pasta bought on special to make a yummy spag Bol.